Twelve years ago, Lane held its first Women’s History Fair. It was in the lunchroom back when the tables were nailed to the ground, space was limited and it lasted for half an hour after school. It was the start of a Lane tradition.

For the following years, the event has been located in numerous places. These places included the library and Room 113. The spaces needed to be able to hold all of the projects created by the Women in Literature students. The event had always taken place in March for Women’s History Month and had been called the Women’s History Fair.

This year new changes were brought to the event; its name changed to be called the Women in Lit Fest, it took place on Feb. 13 and was located in Gym 3.

Ms. Feuer, the Women in Lit teacher, said that they changed the date this year due to a few reasons.

“When we do it in March, we have to do it after International Days,” Feuer said. “If we do it before, it will really screw up people being able to come for extra credit and my students getting signed out of classes in order to be there all day since they will be signed out for I-Days.”

Feuer said that every year, students would tell her that they wished they knew about the class before programming since they were interested in it after seeing the fest. By having it earlier, students would know and learn about the class before most even start their programming.

Since this year’s event was not going to take place during Women’s History Month, Feuer decided the name should be changed, which led to rebranding the event to the Women in Lit Fest.

As interest for the event grew, a larger space was needed. They moved the event to Gym 3 and by doing so, Feuer hoped that more classes would be able to come in and see the projects, the space would be less crowded and tables would be able to be more spread out.

Students in the Women in Lit class had been working hard on the projects since November, in and out of class. They all came up with their own ideas for their projects, which included a look into women’s roles in films, women’s fashions, a project regarding Planned Parenthood and a recurring project called The Dinner Party, based on an exhibit from the 1970s by Judy Chicago.

The Dinner Party is the only project that has been continued from a past class. It was suggested to Feuer by Ms. Simanis, and it was originally taken up by a group of students form last year. It was continued this year and Feuer hopes to keep the project going in the future. In the project, students decorate place sets for a dinner party. Each place set is inspired by a specific woman.

“We made place sets for women from around the world and from different backgrounds and professions. Its purpose is basically to bring awareness to women that people may not know and just to appreciate them,” Vanessa Martinez, Div. 869, said.

To the students, the fest is something that not only teaches something about women’s history, but also gives hope to all young people.  

“It’s our way of celebrating women’s achievements in the past and also women’s achievements to come,” Emayli Holmes, Div. 857, said.

According to Paili Bachrach, Div. 955, the students in the Women in Lit class really enjoy the fest and hoped to inspire other students to take the class through it.

“I think it’s just a really unique way to talk about women, talk about their history and to just appreciate them in general,” Claire Brenner, Div. 859, said.

Feuer said that although there are multiple male students in her class, she hopes that eventually the gender ratio will come to more balanced because it isn’t a class meant for only women.

“All of these electives, African American Literature, Latin American Literature, Women in Literature, the whole point of these classes is to learn about experiences you haven’t had,” Feuer said. “I would love to see more diversity in all of those classes.”